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I’ve been a guest speaker at places where people have taken it upon themselves to inform me of everybody else’s second last names. I’ll be standing at the front of the room greeting folks and somebody will position himself or herself right next to me and tell me the second last names of the people I’m meeting.

I’ll say “hi” to Jim. Nice to meet you, Jim. Thanks for coming, Jim. And the person next to me will say in a loud whisper, “That’s Jim Smith. He’s a banker. He drinks a lot.”

Hello, Mark. Have a great evening, Mark. And then this in my ear, “That’s Mark Jones. He’s in insurance. He’s on his third wife.”

Hi, Emily. How are you doing, Emily? “That’s Emily Mitchell. She owns a restaurant downtown. She’s a terrible gossip.”

We’ve all got these second last names. We’re all labeled. But those identifiers, fair or not, do not say anything at all about who you really are. Your worth, your value, is not wrapped up in where you came from but in who came for you. Your identity, your destiny, do not rest in your own abilities, but in the power of Christ to heal.

The miracles Jesus performed and continues to perform today are not demonstrations against the natural order. They are a divine restoration of the natural order. Jesus doesn’t suspend reality or override the way things are meant to be. He’s fixing things. He’s returning the situation to what it was always created and intended by God to be.

The wind and waves were not created to harm people but to be safe and calm. Human beings were not made to suffer, but to be well and whole. Men and women were not intended to die, but to live forever.

Whatever is broken in us — you — and the people around us, whatever is wrong in our world and the world around us — Jesus is able and willing to fix it. That’s who you are in Christ. Your second last name is Redeemed. Restored. Saved. Your label in Jesus is Precious. Valuable. Loved. Child of God. Today and forever.